How is Hulu? I was debating on cutting down my cable bill and using Hulu but i doubt that is the way to go

If you can receive ABC, CW, NBC, & Fox from an OTA antenna, Hulu+ is a pretty bad deal, if not then it would make some sense. I can get all those networks plus CBS, PBS & Ion in HD via OTA so for me Netflix and/or Amazon Prime are a better deal for the same or less money.

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Some nights when I'm watching stuff on Hulu Plus on my Apple TV I get no commercials in a hour longer program, or just one commercial break with two 20 second adds. I have seen a lot less commercials over the last month or so which has surprised me.

I record the free Hulu using PlayLater and by using playback through Plex on any HDTV in house Plex provides 30 second skip forward and 15 second skip back, skipping commercials works great. I don't know how powerful a PC is required, I am using an old Alienware 15x with Intel i7-740QM, something much less powerful probably wouldn't cut it but of course that is a 3 year old chip and not much by today's standards. I did try running it with an older Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz and it didn't work well enough to use. The 15x is dedicated to PlayOn/PlayLater/Plex and TiVo Desktop, although at some point I will find an inexpensive adequate desktop to replace it when it breaks. Hopefully not for a few years.

We are watching season 8 of Bones recorded from Hulu now, the first Hulu commercial shows the total commercial break time upper left, the right combination of 30 second skip forward and 15 second skip back and within a few seconds, the commercials are gone.

I did use Hulu+ for a free trial, primarily for the Criterion Collection a couple of years ago. I recall most, maybe all of those movies were promoted as having limited commercial interruption and the ads were very few and not annoying at all to me. I also feel certain that there were fewer ads overall with Hulu+ than the free Hulu. Today, I would likely just skip commercials with either service, with the rare exception when the first ad catches my attention and is something I want to see.

I use Google TV as the Plex playback client although I think Roku should work, I just don't like the Roku Plex channel nearly as well as the Google TV 99 cent Plex app.

1) Not having to commit to a new show till after its been renewed. I can wait till a show has been renewed and start watching the first season then. Nothing annoys me more then getting into a show only to find out its been cancelled halfway through its first season. I don't waste DVR space stockpiling episodes that I won't watch.

2) Conflict resolution: If I have a tuner conflict that can't be resolved, any show that is available on Hulu+ will typically fall off my DVR record list. Obviously not a major issue for most of the people on this forum (who probably have multiple DVRs and many tuners), but its a nice feature if you have limited tuners.

I typically put my Hulu+ subscription on hold during the summer and sometimes over the holidays (when there aren't many new shows). So I typically only pay for 9 or so months a year.

Not being able to FF through ads is annoying, but there aren't nearly as many as broadcast (it has increased a bit recently). And as I have said before, not having my DVR automatically skip ads is even more annoying.

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I use Google TV as the Plex playback client although I think Roku should work, I just don't like the Roku Plex channel nearly as well as the Google TV 99 cent Plex app.
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Chris, do you know if that Google TV Plex app works on the Logitech Revue?

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I'm a low income guy on a fairly bad Internet connection, I gave up my cable several years ago and have found myself missing many of my favorite shows. Hulu Plus gives me access to a lot of current shows that Netflix does not have. The bummer is that many of those shows are only available for five of the most recent episodes. This is not about Hulu this is about the content providers and their licensing. Content providers are scrambling to try to figure out how to maximize revenue in a confusing digital world. I believe that part of the reason that many current shows are on Hulu and not Netflix even if in fewer episodes is because of commercials. It's no secret that Netflix has lost many titles since more services have come online, and that is because they no longer have a monopoly.
I currently subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu plus, and find that there is a lot of content on Hulu Plus but is not available on Netflix, and vice versa. On my less than ideal Internet connection I do find that Hulu Plus is a bit faster, with better video quality, than Netflix on the same connection. While I am no big fan of commercials especially on a service that I pay for I do find that it's worth the money for me. An interesting sidenote, the X-Files are, at least for now, commercial free on Hulu plus. I have to think that the content provider is paying something to make this possible because it's a popular show even all these years later. For what it's worth I watch both Netflix and Hulu plus on a AppleTV streaming to my television. YMMV.

My complaint against Hulu+ is that there are commercials, when you pay for streaming content, you shouldn't have to see advertisements esp political ones, the only political presidential ad I saw from the last election was for Obama after paying for Hulu plus and it was also the last.

I cancelled it the day I started when the shows were interrupted with commercials, ok sure if it free that's one thing but paying a monthly fee for commercials isn't acceptable for me.

My complaint against Hulu+ is that there are commercials, when you pay for streaming content, you shouldn't have to see advertisements esp political ones, the only political presidential ad I saw from the last election was for Obama after paying for Hulu plus and it was also the last.

I cancelled it the day I started when the shows were interrupted with commercials, ok sure if it free that's one thing but paying a monthly fee for commercials isn't acceptable for me.

If you have cable or satellite you're paying a lot more per month for commercials. What's the difference?

Chris, do you know if that Google TV Plex app works on the Logitech Revue?

I missed the question originally but you did get an answer which I can confirm, yes, Plex works fine on the Revue in my experience. I like the Sony models better and have retired my Revue after using it two years. The better processors and better codec support with the Sony NSZ-GT1 and NSZ-GS7/GS8 make those boxes better than the Revue for my needs.

If you have cable or satellite you're paying a lot more per month for commercials. What's the difference?

True in a sense but cable is not offered.for free on a advertising model, its apparent that Hulu's advertising model doesn't work as otherwise the pay version wouldn't have commercials inserted.

True there is slightly more content for the paid + version but givin the cost, I was very disappointed to be buying ads and commercials streamed to me.

I would resubsribe if the paid version didn't include commercials, seems to work for Netflix, why not Hulu?

We pay a premium for TiVo service to avoid the commercials and watch tv on our terms, we pay for internet access, enough is enough, why pay more just to have more commercials? It's one thing to expect commercials with the free version, paying to have yet even more is too much.

There was a time when people said the same about cable tv, as why pay when its free over the air? As a result cable companies offered more channels, more choices such as movie channels to add value for the paid service, you raise a good point because I HATE the national networks on cable that flood me with commercials and then take in on themselves to censor the movies and decide what parts of a movie I should see. I love kmttg for the fact I can take a TiVo recording, download it, strip the commercials and send it back to my TiVo.

Just because all the crap commercials are thrown at us 24/7 doesn't mean we have to accept it as business as normal, my god if I have to see any more vaginal mesh lawsuit advertising I will scream! This my household and I, not some corporation media will make the final choice of what is brought into my home.

True in a sense but cable is not offered.for free on a advertising model, its apparent that Hulu's advertising model doesn't work as otherwise the pay version wouldn't have commercials inserted.

True there is slightly more content for the paid + version but givin the cost, I was very disappointed to be buying ads and commercials streamed to me.

I would resubsribe if the paid version didn't include commercials, seems to work for Netflix, why not Hulu?

We pay a premium for TiVo service to avoid the commercials and watch tv on our terms, we pay for internet access, enough is enough, why pay more just to have more commercials? It's one thing to expect commercials with the free version, paying to have yet even more is too much.

There was a time when people said the same about cable tv, as why pay when its free over the air? As a result cable companies offered more channels, more choices such as movie channels to add value for the paid service, you raise a good point because I HATE the national networks on cable that flood me with commercials and then take in on themselves to censor the movies and decide what parts of a movie I should see. I love kmttg for the fact I can take a TiVo recording, download it, strip the commercials and send it back to my TiVo.

Just because all the crap commercials are thrown at us 24/7 doesn't mean we have to accept it as business as normal, my god if I have to see any more vaginal mesh lawsuit advertising I will scream! This my household and I, not some corporation media will make the final choice of what is brought into my home.

The Hulu Plus model is add revenue plus a monthly fee, that is not evidence an advertising based model has failed, it is a different model and what Hulu will do long term with either service isn't clear to me. Neither service is knocking the world on its ears right now. The free Hulu provides programming licensed for PC access only, Hulu Plus is a different licensing arrangement with the content owners.

I suspect the partnership, NBC, Fox and ABC (Disney), all of which offer ad funded channels don't want to offer a service with no ads for a fee, the fear would be the companies that pay for the network broadcasts might not be happy if the same programs provided with commercials can be watched ad free the next day through Hulu Plus. I don't think Hulu will go to a strictly fee based model as a result of the primary business the companies are in.

You don't like the Hulu Plus service since it includes ads, don't subscribe, this isn't very complicated. I don't like paying for smart phone data service so I don't subscribe to a smart phone data plan, never have.

They only slipped that in in the last 2 or 3 years and they failed to ask me first. no I don't like to be offered great deals of Bounty paper towels in the midst of pausing my recordings. If there was a way to remove them I would but as we all know life is full of compromising when you have no other choice.

I have a Tivo because the alternative is worse, if it wasn't for Tivo we wouldn't have DVR's, we would be held even tighter under the rule of the cable companies. Some choice is better than no choice.

They only slipped that in in the last 2 or 3 years and they failed to ask me first.

I know it's not your main point, but TiVo has had ads for almost its entire existence, and has had plans for ads from the beginning (targeted advertising was part of its early dog-and-pony fund-raising show.) I don't think they had any actual ads until a couple of years in, say 2002.

They only slipped that in in the last 2 or 3 years and they failed to ask me first. no I don't like to be offered great deals of Bounty paper towels in the midst of pausing my recordings. If there was a way to remove them I would but as we all know life is full of compromising when you have no other choice. I have a Tivo because the alternative is worse, if it wasn't for Tivo we wouldn't have DVR's, we would be held even tighter under the rule of the cable companies. Some choice is better than no choice.

But you said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by eboydog

......... but paying a monthly fee for commercials isn't acceptable for me.

I know it's not your main point, but TiVo has had ads for almost its entire existence, and has had plans for ads from the beginning (targeted advertising was part of its early dog-and-pony fund-raising show.) I don't think they had any actual ads until a couple of years in, say 2002.

I don't find the TiVo ads to be any problem, if I hit pause I want the program to stop for a reason, like leaving the room, if I want to read what on the screen I push clear, takes the TiVo ads off. If that helps TiVo stay in business and make more money (or have less loss) good for them, as I still can save about 25% to 30% of my time watching a network program, and save about 4 minute or more when watching HBO by skipping the intro and end credits. I have not found any way around streaming ads, that why I don't use OD unless Mr. Obama announces say the killing of Osama bin Laden at 10:45 pm and cuts off my network program, then I have to deal with OD to watch that last 15 minutes.